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Summer Palace
Today was a trip to the Summer Palace. This was a place for the Emporers to go to escape the city heat. They would ride a boat from the Forbidden City to the Summer Palace. This was last used by an Emporer in 1916 and is run by the Government now. We took a Dragon Boat from the hotel area to the palace and we had our own private tour guide. She walked us to the palace and gave us the history. It is a beautiful area with a huge lake and many houses other than the palace. There were many Chinese citizens there and also lots of tourists from other countries, who, we assume, are mostly here for the games.
Lunch was another adventure in eating in a Chinese restuarant where they spoke little English. We were able to get a very nice lunch for under $20.00 for the two of us. Everyone who we have met so far have been very friendly and polite. One question we have received on a couple of occasions, is related to how our impression of China is now, after a couple of days, compared to our preconceived ideas of the country. People seem very interested in impressing us.
Tonight we went to meet our landlords for the second part of our stay. They live in a high-rise apartment in the Central Buisness District which is on the east side of the city. They took us to a type of restuarant that features a cuisine that is very popular in China. It is called Hot Pot. It is similar to what we call fondue, but each person gets their own pot with the steaming broth for cooking in what flavor they have chosen. I chose Shark Fin. We ordered a variety of vegetables and meats to cook in our pots (these we all shared) and we had two sauces to dip into. It was a fun experience and a great way to meet our landlords.
We are excited about the upcoming games. We went to the bank that was selling tickets and found out that the games are totally sold out. That is the first time I have heard of that occuring in my Olympic experience. It will be interesting to see what is available as we get to the games. The internet has changed the way we do business with tickets today. We were able to get some of our tickets through E-bay. If you are curious as to what a ticket to some of the events can command, go onto E-bay and do a search for Beijing Tickets. I think you will be surprised.
Rick Stevenson
posted by DLNOlympics at
8:58 AM
5 Comments:
Beautiful photos - you both look happy and well. Dinner sounds great, did you eat shark fin, or was your flavor of broth shark fin? Either sounds interesting.
When people ask you about your impressions and if they changed, what do you tell them? It sounds like you have been impressed with some of the sights and things around.
I checked on eBay. What is the complaint - you can get two softball tickets for $45 dollars. Of course those were the only ones under $100 and many were over $1000. Are these the most expensive you have seen them compared to other games?
Have fun - only 3 days till the kick-off.
It's good to hear that things are going well so far. The food sounds interesting and very unlike what we would recognize as "Chinese food."
Aside from trying to impress you, how have the citizens reacted to the invasion of foreigners? Hopefully you're not an "ugly American" over there.
Is the security force noticeable where you are? I've heard reports of overwhelming numbers of military and police in the city.
Keep up the good work. Have a ball!
I am do glad you are having a good time. Looking forward to more photos - Christina - the outfits so far are stunning! Even sitting behind a desk.
Some burning questions: How's the house? Western style "facilities"? Did you see Matt Lauer yet (he was on the "Wall" Monday so I know he's in town!)? Have you sampled any Chinese wine?
Keep having fun and I'm enjoying the blog.
The palace sounds amazing. How is the city? Does it seem like they have "Westernized" it for the games?
Sounds like you are having a great time already. Did CV try the shark fin??? I can not wait to see Opening Ceremonies!! I want to hear about Matt Lauer also...and my brother-in-law! Have a great time!
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